U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,753 discloses a disposable diaper of shorts type provided with side panels which are elastic circumferentially of the diaper. Each of these side panels comprises an elastic woven or nonwoven fabric, a film of elastic material, stretch-bonded laminate which is elastically stretchable and air/liquid-permeable, or the like. "Stretch-bonding" is a technique adopted to bond an elastic member under a tension to a sheet member under no tension. With the laminate obtained by this technique, the sheet member forms gathers as the elastic member contracts after bonded.
With the above-mentioned disposable diaper of prior art, the side panels, i.e., the lateral waist regions may be formed by a breathable woven or nonwoven fabric. However, it is generally difficult to make the lateral waist regions effectively elastic so far as the lateral waist regions are formed by the breathable woven or nonwoven fabric alone. To achieve this, the woven or nonwoven fabric must be made of relatively expensive elastic yarn. Obviously, this is not practical from the viewpoint of a hot competitive pricing in the industry. Certainly, it is possible to provide the lateral waist regions with a high elasticity at a relatively low cost by adopting the well known stretched laminate of woven or nonwoven fabric. However, the diaper obtained in this way will suffer from deterioration of feeling to wear the garment due to many gathers formed in the lateral waist regions which give a wearer uncomfortable rough touch. Additionally, the gathers cause the laminate to be densely folded and consequently deteriorate an expected breathability between in- and exterior of the diaper through the laminate.